In today's high demand for more efficient battery power and the development of thin plate batteries, methods of incorporating these cells into industry applications has led to creating new busing concepts and circuit protection that was not required for past battery technologies. The battery packs must meet the high power demands and be capable of passing large amounts of current safely from the thin plate battery assemblies. Moreover, the thin plate batteries allow one to utilize minimal space for the applications enclosure with all the components required for the battery technology.
Applications for thin plate technologies need to meet both safety and performance requirements. The busing concept described herein introduces a method that can help protect the sensitive packaging of the cell as well as provide all the necessary components required for optimal performance and safety. Certain thin plate chemistry demands more protection than other chemistries thus requiring power regulation and load balancing as well as thermal monitoring and short-circuit protection. The concepts described herein provide methods for integrating both internal and external monitoring applications within the battery package.
With the introduction of the thin plate cells into high-power applications, the high current output levels require busing methods that can handle those current loads with minimal impedance and without any resulting damage to the cells. The anode and cathode plates from which the power is extracted from the battery are of very sensitive parts of the packaging and must be able to withstand vibration. The concepts described herein will allow one to safely bus the batteries together and design a complete, capacity-rated output battery for the required application.
The busing concept described herein utilizes components that enable one to reduce the assembled height of the packaging of the battery pack as compared to prior art. The concept reduces the need for large gauge inter-connect cabling by incorporating bus clamps for the main power inter-connects. Internal monitoring circuitry can also be incorporated into a printed circuit board which is part of the bus assembly. Utilizing all of the components of the concepts described herein will allow a minimal envelope for the battery pack into its enclosure.
This concepts described herein, in their simplicity, should provide an adequate means of interconnecting thin plate battery cells, as sensitive as they are, into a wide variety of fields in the power application industry. The design concepts described herein were initially targeted for military and commercial aircraft applications but can be used in many other applications for the thin plate battery footprint.
In general, in one aspect the invention features a battery including: a plurality of battery cells arranged side-by-side, each battery cell including a terminal tab for delivering power from the cell; a bus plate made of an electrically non-conductive material, the bus plate also having an array of holes formed therein, the array of holes defining a plurality of hole pairs, wherein the terminal tab from each cell of the plurality of cells extends through a corresponding different hole in the array of holes, wherein for each hole pair of the plurality of hole pairs, the terminal tabs extending through that hole pair are folded one over the other to produce overlapping tabs for that hole pair; and a plurality of clamps each of which clamps together the overlapping tabs of a corresponding different hole pair.
Other embodiments include one or more of the following features. The plurality of clamps are made of an electrically conducting material, e.g. copper. The battery further including a plurality of fasteners securing the plurality of clamps to the bus plate, wherein the plurality of fasteners are screws. The plurality of clamps includes a first clamp that clamps the overlapping tabs of each of two neighboring hole pairs and electrically connects the overlapping tabs of those two neighboring hole pairs. The battery further including a plurality of terminal forms, each terminal form located between the two holes of a different hole pair and providing a structure over which the two overlapping tabs for that hole pair are folded. Each of the plurality of terminal forms has rounded upper edges. The plurality of terminal forms are integrally formed parts of the bus plate or the plurality of terminal forms are separate parts that are mounted on the bus plate. The battery further including circuitry mounted on the bus plate, wherein the circuitry is battery monitoring circuitry and/or short protection circuitry, and/or temperature monitoring circuitry, and/or load balancing circuitry. The battery also includes a protection plate mounted on and protecting most of the bus plate. The bus plate is made of a glass fiber resin. The battery cells of the plurality of battery cells are thin plate battery cells.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a battery including: a plurality of battery cells arranged side-by-side, each battery cell including a first terminal tab and a second terminal tab, said first and second terminal tabs for delivering power from the cell; a bus plate made of an electrically non-conductive material and having a first array of holes and a second array of holes formed therein, the first array of holes defining a first plurality of hole pairs and the second array of holes defining a second plurality of hole pairs, wherein the first terminal tab from each cell of the plurality of cells extends through a corresponding different hole in the first array of holes, wherein the second terminal tab from each cell of the plurality of cells extends through a corresponding different hole in the second array of holes, wherein for each hole pair of the first and second plurality of hole pairs, the terminal tabs extending through that hole pair are folded one over the other to produce overlapping tabs for that hole pair; a first plurality of clamps each of which clamps together the overlapping tabs of a corresponding different hole pair among the first plurality of hole pairs; and a second plurality of clamps each of which clamps together the overlapping tabs of a corresponding different hole pair among the second plurality of hole pairs.
Depending on the configuration, current capacity, and maximum output requirements of the battery, in prior art designs simple wiring of the current from one cell to another necessitated not only numerous interconnections but also space to accommodate that wiring.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.